shoplifting

Merchandise is locked in cases to guard against theft in a Target store in New York City on Sept. 23, 2023. Deb Cohn-Orbach/UCG/Universal Images Group...

The Rev. Al Sharpton, center, arrives at Macy's flagship store, in New York, for a meeting with the CEO of Macy's to talk about...

TAKING A STAND—Bartender Latika Pamplin and Pittsburgh police officer Brenda Tate pose with signs on the Black Beauty Lounge’s windows, warning shoplifters never to come inside. (Photos by J.L. Martello) Within hours of the Hicks family opening their SHOP ‘n SAVE in the Hill District in the 1980s, boosters were selling cartloads of merchandise two blocks away. Add to that the employees “giving away” huge quantities of inventory and the store failed in short order; killing any chance of revitalizing the Hill for 30 years. The term “booster,” said Pittsburgh Police Spokes­person Diane Rich­ard, is a professional shoplifter, as opposed to, say, a teenager taking a pack of gum.